Roundup: Cypriot deputy attorney general ordered to stand trial for corruption

Cypriot Deputy Attorney-General Rikkos Erotokritou has been ordered to stand trial for criminal charges of corruption.

Erotokritou was ordered to appear before court on June 17 for his trial.

The trial was set unusually early for the overburdened Cypriot courts, both because of the high public interest of the case and the upheaval it has caused to the smooth operation of the legal service, which is the legal adviser of the government.

The charges Erotokritou is faced with date back to the 2013 10 billion euros (10.89 billion U.S. dollars) bailout of Cyprus in which uninsured bank deposits of over 100,000 euros were impaired in the world's first recapitalization of a bank by its creditors.

Erotokritou is accused of making an improper favor to the law office of Andreas Neocleous, in exchange for allowing him to obtain a court settlement offsetting bank loans against his impaired deposits.

The law office acted as legal adviser of the administrator of a now-defunct bank.

Erotokritou's immediate superior, Attorney-General Costas Clerides, accused him of abusing his office in reciprocating to the favor he received from the law office.

He accused him of going beyond his powers to initiate criminal proceedings against two Russian brothers who were being challenged in court by their under-aged half-sister for improperly selling the shares of an offshore company worth between 250 million and 300 million euros.

The Neocleous law office represented both the girl and the offshore company.

Erotokritou, who remains deputy attorney general and reports to his office every day, was released on a 20,000 euros bail until his trial. Endit